June 20, 2017 - Mitchell Lock Farewell
When I was first starting my RV-7 build back in 2004, I asked on the Mid-Atlantic RV Yahoo group if anyone in the local area was building and could show me their project, answer a few questions. A guy named Mitchell Lock responded, invited me over to his house and spent a couple of hours with me. It turns out he was a master RV builder. I ended up going over to his house three or four times during my build, an invaluable help to a new builder like me. I'd see Mitch around over the years at fly-ins. He became the Vans Aircraft Company East Coast representative. Then this year I was elated to hear that he would become the new president and General Manager of Vans Aircraft Company. They couldn't have selected a better man.
Vans Aircraft Company is located in Aurora, Oregon so Mitch and family would be moving to the West Coast. To give him a well-deserved send off, the Westminster EAA Chapter and Chesapeake Sport Pilot put together a Mitchell Lock fly-in/send off at Bay Bridge airport. So this Saturday morning, Bruce and I pulled our RVs out of the hangar and prepared to fly to Bay Bridge airport.
Helen Woods, owner and manager of Chesapeake Sport Pilot, presented Mich with a momento for his office in Oregon to remind him of Maryland.
Mitch said how humbling it was for him to know that Van and the people who built the company into what it is today feel that he was the person to carry it forward.
